Semiconductor devices are used in many electronic and other applications. Semiconductor devices are integrated circuits that are formed on semiconductor or other substrates by depositing many levels and types of thin films over the substrate and patterning to form individual components that form the integrated circuit. Various different types of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices are fabricated using various technologies.
There is a demand in semiconductor device technology to integrate many different functions on a single chip, i.e. in a single integrated circuit. For example, it is desirable to manufacture both analog and digital circuitry in the same integrated circuit. In such applications, capacitors are extensively used for storing electric charge. One favored type of capacitor is an MIM (metal insulator metal) capacitor. MIM capacitors are built at the back end of the semiconductor device fabrication process. MIM capacitors store charge and are useful in many purposes, including minimizing parasitic capacitance between interconnect features. It is known, however, that MIM capacitors tend to have a capacitance that drifts either with temperature or applied stress, i.e. voltage. Semiconductor devices require precision MIM capacitors immune from such operating variabilities.
It would therefore be desirable to provide temperature and voltage independent capacitors.